St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-09-09
EVANGELICAL LUTHERANs. o
The General Council Now in Ses-
sion at Greenyille, Pa.

The General Council Now in Ses-
sion at Greenville, Pa.
GREENvILLE, Pa, Sept. s.-The gen.
eral council of the Evangelical Luth-
eran church in the United States and
Canada convened here to-day. The
council promises to be of more than Or
binary interest. Representatives are
here, or on their way, from every synod
OF that part of the church known as
General Council Lutherans, except the
Michigan synod, which has not yet been
heard from. Some of the most promi-
nent members are: DrS. Joseph ZeiSS,
b. M. Schumacher, III. E. Jacobs, Phila-
delphia; DR.. T. E. Seip, of Muhlenberg,
Pa; DR.. f.. f. MOltke, of New York DR..
X. +. Weidner, of Rock Island, ILL.,; DR..
William PasSavant, of Pittsburg, Pa;
Revs. J. Brezing, of Canada, and q. w.
Mechling, of Lancaster, Pa. This is the
supreme body of this branch Of church
of America. 1t represents nine synods,
with two in advisory relations, 993 MIN
listers, 1885 congregations and 25S,000
COMMUNICATE members. This council is
in more or less intimate communication
with all the branches of the Lutheran
church in America, which ranks fourth
in numbers of all Protestant
denominations. The general coun-
Gil was organized just twenty years
ago. 1t supports about half of the
twenty-SiX Lutheran colleges in the
United States and four theological SEM
inarieS. 1t embraces five languages,
English, German, Norwegian and Dan
ish. The hOme-mission work extends
from Nova Scotia to Texas, and from
the Atlantic to the Pacific. Its foreign
mission work is mostly in India. The
deliberations of this body VIII be of in
terest to about 100000 people in the
United States and British America.
The first business session met at 2 p. m.
to-day. The most of the session was oc-
cupied with examining the credentials of
delegates and calling of the roll by synods
The elections resulted as follows:
President, Rev. Prof. A. Spaeth, DID,,
Philadelphia; English recording secre-
tary, Rev. q. w. Mechling, Lancaster,
O.; German, Rev. J. Nicun, Syracuse,
N. Y; treasurer, w. A. Stake, Phila-
delphia; English recording secretary,
Rev. B. NJ. Schmucker, DID,, PottStown,
Pa; German, S. Klingman, Ann Arbor,
Mich; Swedish, E. Norrelius, VaSa,
MINI. Reports from the various synods
were then read. Friday evening was
fixed for the discussion of home
uIlSSlOnS, anu MONDAY evening Will De
devoted to the interests of foreign
missions. Rev. f. j. f. Shantz read
the report of the English home mission
committee, which showed a very en-
couraging summary of results. The
work of the committee has greatly in
creasing during the past year, and it
was found impossible to heed the nu-
merous appeals which have been made
for assistance, for want of men and
money. AT the evening session prayer
was offered by Rev. G. Trabert, of
Minneapolis, MINI. DR.. Schumacher,
OF Pottstown, Pa, presented the fol-
lowing:
Resolved, That committee be appointed,
which shall present definite plan for the
administration of home mission work of the
synods connected with the general council
in which the relation of the synods to the
missions and mission work, within their
bounds and the mode of raising and expend-
ing money for the work shall be set forth,
and reported during the convention.
After an interesting discussion the
resolution was adopted. The report of
the treasury of the English Home mis-
sion committee was received and re-
ferred to an auditing committee. A re-
port was received from Mr.. W. A.
Stake of Philadelphia, declining to
serve another year as treasurer. Ia
bled. The session adjourned with
PRAYER by Rev. j. K. Melholm, of Pitts
burg